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AN ADDRESS
To the Congregation of Trinity Church
BY
THE REV. MORGAN DIX
RECTOR
Qn Quinquagesima Sunday, February 17, 1901
ON THE SUBJECT OF
Mission Work
In the Lower Part of This City

PRINTED AT THE REQUEST OP
TRINITY CHURCH ASSOCIATION

AN ADDRESS
To the Congregation of Trinity Church
BY
THE REV. MORGAN DIX
rector
On Quinquagesima Sunday, February 17, 1901
ON THE SUBJECT OF
Mission Work
In the Lower Part of This City

PRINTED AT THE REQUEST OF
TRINITY CHURCH ASSOCIATION

It is a long time since I spoke to you of the work done by
the congregation of Trinity Church for God and the needy in
this part of the city. The occasion to resume the theme pre
sents itself with the approach of Lent; with the arrival of this
day, when the praise of Charity or Holy Love is heard in the
Epistle for the morning. So, dear friends, let us have a quiet
conference about that work, and think together of obligation
and of opportunity. I speak to you with a full and affectionate
appreciation of what has been done in past years, and with a
tender recollection of those, once our ready helpers, now gone
hence and no more seen; with many thoughts of the changes
during the past twenty years, and of the way in which inex
orable Death has lessened the number of those rich in this
world's goods; the men and women, to take whose places no
one comes from those regions miles away, where the wealthy
reside and riches abound, and men are able to spend large
sums to the glory of the Lord and the relief of the suffering
and the poor.
I address to-day a congregation free from every burden and
obligation felt by the flocks of the parishes in the upper part
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of the city. Let us see what you would have to do if you went
to one of the three or four great churches between Tenth and
Forty-third streets. First, you would have to pay the salaries
of your Rector and his Assistants; next, you would have to
pay for the Organists and the Choirs and the music; and then
for the Sextons, ushers and persons employed about the place;
for the Sunday Schools, the Day Schools and all those institu
tions which now cluster around the wealthy parish church; for
heat and light, the repairs of the building, and everything re
quired to the carrying forward of the work. All these burdens
are borne by the people who worship in unendowed churches.
But observe, for not one of these things is demand made in this
church, or in any chapel of Trinity Parish, on the congregations
of the said church and chapels. What an exemption! All the
things that I have mentioned are provided for by an endow
ment, to which we are indebted to an English sovereign, Queen
Anne of blessed memory. Do I find fault with this state of
things? Surely not. I rather rejoice therein, because it is
clear that church work, in quarters of the town where no
rich people live, can not be done by the gifts of the poor. The
Rectors of our uptown churches know this, and are acting on
that knowledge; they are strenuously exerting themselves to
secure endowments for their parishes against the day when
they also will be left behind, as we have been, when the wealthy
will have moved away, and when the churches, if not endowed,
must be sold and removed. But never mind them; think of
vourselves. Note, first, that you haye not one thing to provide,
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not one thing to pay for; and that if you should all go away
the services would be maintained here just the same by the
fund provided for that purpose. Since this is your position,
what then? Well, there are two things, one or other of which
might be done by you. ist. You might thank God for your
happy exemption, and settle quietly down and enjoy the aspect
of the place, and the music and the services, and say — not
aloud, of course, but to yourselves — " How glad I am that I
am not at charges for any of these good things ; that they cost
me nothing at all; that I can take it in, Sunday after Sunday,
and have, meanwhile, no church expenses to meet! " That is
one of the courses which might be taken. And the 2d might
be cast into the shape. of a reflection to this effect: " Relieved
from every burden, from responsibility for the maintenance of
the Clergy, and the services and the care of the building, but
surely not relieved from the duty of every Christian towards
God and Religion, I must consider what I can do in- turn. I
must ask myself the question, so familiar to us in the use of the
Psalter: ' What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the
benefits that He hath done unto me? ' I must inquire, I must be
eager to find out what is needed here, if anything, not properly
chargeable to the endowment; what is wanted, for which the
Vestry, trustees of the endowment, do not provide; what the
Rector and the Clergy want, what the lay workers in this field
want, what the poor want. There are limits to the providing
power of trust funds; beyond those limits there must be large
wants, great wants, urgent needs. I must give to these liber
's

ally ; and the more liberally because I am never called upon for
any of the current expenses of the parish church." You have
heard the two soliloquies; I think the latter rings more truly
than the former; do you not agree with me? Compare them
again: "The Vestry do a great deal, but they ought to do
everything; if anything else is needed they ought to do it, and
I intend to do nothing at all but take all that I can get and
enjoy my immunity." Or, on the other hand: " There must
be, and there are a great many things needed here, for which
the Rector and the Clergy cannot look to the Vestry, which
the people ought to provide, and which a generous and loving
people would provide. I will contribute to these things, and
the more largely and liberally because these are the only things
for which my help is needed. Considering what I should have
to give if a member of an uptown, rich congregation, I will
make from that a measure of my free will offerings in this
place." Which has the better sound in it?
Weil, if we agree in an estimate of the comparative value of
these two speeches, we are on common ground, and the Clergy
may, without hesitation, make their appeal to you, assured of
your response. What do we want you to do? What is that you
can do? It is twenty-five years and more since, thinking this
over, and seeing that the congregation seemed to come here, as
little rnpre than Sunday visitors, with no care and no responsi
bility, hor interest in the place on the other six days of the
week, I set myself to try to build up a work of our own, a work
to be done<by the people themselves, a work which should
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represent their mind, will, love and self sacrifice. God blessed
that design abundantly; the beginning was made of systematic
downtown mission work here, for the poor and needy, by their
more prosperous brethren. Sisters of Mercy came promptly
to our aid; a house was rented in Morris street, in which for
.some years a good work was carried on; then we moved to
State street. At last we were able to buy land for a permanent
.site, and to erect upon it a building suited to our growing
needs. So greatly did the Lord prosper us that it became nec
essary to double that building in size, and that is the Trinity
Mission House, at No. 211 Fulton street, of which you often
bear. And this has been, from the beginning until now, the
-work of the people of this congregation, aided by kind and
sympathetic friends elsewhere, as change and death reduced
•our numbers here, a work outside of the endowment, not de
pendent on the trust funds, but carried on by the constant and
free offerings of good and loving people. It was the answer
to earnest prayer and effort; the sign of an awakening for which
we cannot be too thankful. The parish reports to the Annual
Convention of the Diocese are substantially the statement of
the Mission House work. The classes for confirmation are
almost entirely drawn from children under instruction there;
the greater number of those who are baptized at this font come
thence brought by parents and friends connected with that
house; the families enrolled there are between 500 and 600
in number, all resident in this part of the city. Our most
attractive services appear to me to be those in which the chil^
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dren of the Sunday School and members of the Guilds and
Societies from the Mission House form the conspicuous fea
ture, as at Epiphany, when the long procession singing hymns
to God's praise goes round the church and up and down the
nave and aisles. I think I may safely say that if the Mission
House should be closed there would be little or nothing to
report of the work of the church among the poor and needy,
the humble and meek in this ward, until some similar institu
tion were established to take its place. And now observe, ye
who do not know it already, that all this has been done for
more than twenty-five years by the congregation and their
helpers, and not by the vestry, and then you will understand
the solicitude, the anxiety, which I feel as the years go by, and
faithful men and women pass off and away to their reward, and
helpers fail because they are few ; anxiety lest the time should
come when this work cannot be carried on as in former years,.
simply because of those who fill the vacant places, the ability
to give falls short of the will. But we must not permit the
intrusion of depressing thoughts. God has helped thus far;
He will not fail. And yet, dear friends, I put it, affectionately,.
to your hearts. Lent is at hand. Shall it not be marked, this
year, by some special resolves, some special gifts for this holy
charity? By contribution towards the reduction of the debt?
By pledges of annual gifts for the maintenance of the work?
I leave it to your thoughts. Do you wish to know what we
want, and what you can do? I have told you.

There is one thing more to mention, for which dependence
ought not to be placed on the endowment. The Altar and the
Holy Place. These should be the care of the worshippers in
this sacred temple. No one ought to stand between them and
the Lord in this work to His glory and honor. The Altar
should always have its decoration of flowers, fair hangings, rich
broidered work, and whatever makes the " beauty of holiness."
The Vestry ought not to be called on for any of these things.
True, they make a contribution to the floral decoration of the
Chancel once a year, but that is on Ascension Day, and then
because it is also the anniversary of the consecration of this
Church. It would be a shame if they had to provide for what
the Altar Society is now doing. I would rather that no flowers
should ever again be seen on the Altar than that they should
not be placed there by the hands of the people. The look of
the Holy Table is a very fair test of our veneration for the
divine mysteries. Bright and beautiful to the view, it speaks
of appreciation and adoring love. Cold and cheerless, it re
bukes a cold spirit and a dead faith. In heaven's name, let us
not ask the Vestry for everything. What if one should say, on
being asked for a gift for the Altar: " I shall not give; the
people ought not to be asked for such things; the Vestry ought
to do everything! " Why? Have they no duty, who kneel
there and are fed with the bread of angels? Is there anything
of which they do not think that it should be provided for them?
If so, what? Such absolute vacating of the idea of duty and re-
sponsibrlty would be dreadful; it could not be deliberate; it
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ought to be resisted like other temptations, such as to stand
all the day idle, and let our neighbors do our work, " What
shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath done. unto
me?" Well, suppose I should answer to that question: "I
will- give Him nothing at all ; I will not contribute in any way
to the work of this parish; I will refer the Lord to the endow
ment, and say, You must look to that for which is wanted; do
not count on me?" No, no; that would never do. It is not
the answer of one who knows himself to be free to. do great
things for God, and realizes his responsibility for that freedom.
Nor let any one say: I will give for the relief of the poor,
but not for church decorations or ornament; the poor are first
in the estimation of Christ. How did our Lord deal with simi
lar evasions of duty? " Ye tithe mint, anise and cummin, and
neglect the weightier matters of the law." So He said to the
Pharisees; and, He continued, " these ought ye to have done; "
and added, " and not lo leave the other undone." That also is
something to remember in a utilitarian age like ours.
I have spoken thus of your own work, not as if it were the
only work of which we ought to think, nor as if other work
were to be neglected, but because it ought to be from time to
time brought distinctly before the people, and because it is
especially your own, and because you ought not to let anything
else distract your attention from this. The saying of St.
James is a weighty one: "If any man provide not for his
own and for those of his own house, he hath denied the
faith and" is worse than an infidel." Fidelity is the first thing

required; fidelity to our own duty, our own calling. And this
I say, brethren, the time is short; short for you and short for
me, and shorter, perhaps, for some of you than for him who
addresses you. I see the great parishes uptown, and hear of
the immense sums splendidly and gladly given there, for
chancels, clergy houses, choir schools, nurseries, and almost
envy the Rectors who have such treasure at their call. But it
is a consoling thought that what is done here, on a more
modest scale, is also precious in the All-seeing Eyes, and that
our offerings also are come up before God. Compared with
what others are doing, we have little to do, but then we are
free to do the more because free from so much that others must
carry. Pray God to stir up the wills of His faithful people;
that our work may grow and not decline; that there be no step
backward, but steady progress; that more and more persons
may become helpers in this place, far off though it be from the
pleasant habitations of men. May there never fail from among
us hearts full of prayer, and hands ready to toil for the Master;
that when we shall fail, all may go on well as hitherto, and that
it may continue to be said of this sacred place, " Here will I
dwell, for I have a delight therein."

POSTSCRIPT.
Let me add to what has been said a brief statement of the
things most needed at this -time.
First — Contributions to the current expenses of the work in
its several branches, including the Mission House, Dispensary,
Downtown Relief Bureau and Sea Side Home.
Secondly — Gifts towards paying the debt on the Mission
House, which amounts to about $30,000.
Thirdly — Aid, through the Sisters at the Mission House, in
clothing, provisions, coals, entertainments, summer outings
and all the other pressing needs of the poor.
Fourthly — Steady gifts to the Altar Society for flowers, deco
ration and beautifying the Sanctuary.
Fifthly — Personal service by those who can give it, in the
Schools, Guilds and Societies.
For these things I affectionately and earnestly appeal to any
who may read this pamphlet, begging them to help us accord
ing to their ability, as they would help those in far off places,
where the poor are forgotten.
Morgan Dix.

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